Electronic Telegram No. 3201
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
CBAT Director:  Daniel W. E. Green; Hoffman Lab 209; Harvard University;
 20 Oxford St.; Cambridge, MA  02138; U.S.A.
e-mail:  cbatiau@eps.harvard.edu (alternate cbat@iau.org)
URL http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/index.html
Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network


SUPERNOVA 2012ec IN NGC 1084 = PSN J02455988-0734270
     L. A. G. Monard, Calitzdorp, Western Cape, South Africa, reports his
discovery of an apparent supernova (mag 14.5) on several images taken in bad
seeing at the Klein Karoo Observatory (no instrumentation specified) on Aug.
11.039 UT.  The new object is located at R.A. = 2h45m59s.89, Decl. =
-7d34'25".0 (equinox 2000.0; UCAC reference stars), which is < 1" west and 17"
north of the core of the Sc-type galaxy NGC 1084.  Nothing is visible at this
position on Digitized Sky Survey images (limiting red mag 20.5) or on Monard's
images prior to 2012 Mar. 28.75 (limiting mag 18.5 and deeper).  The variable
was designated PSN J02455988-0734270 (based on an earlier position posted by
Monard) when it was posted at the Central Bureau's TOCP webpage and is here
designated SN 2012ec based on the spectroscopic confirmation reported below.
Additional magnitudes for 2012ec:  Mar. 28.75, [18.0 (Monard); Aug. 12.431,
14.6 (Joseph Brimacombe, Cairns, Australia; luminance filter; position end
figures 59s.85, 23".6); 12.778, 14.8 (Brimacombe; infrared filter, wavelength
> 700 nm; position end figures 59s.88, 23".8; image posted at website URL
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43846774@N02/7784234500/); 13.020, 14.4 (Monard);
15.011, 14.4 (Monard); 16.102, 14.3 (Monard).  Brimacombe's Aug. 12.431 image
is posted at URL http://www.flickr.com/photos/43846774@N02/7771441224/.
Supernovae 1963P (IAUC 1843), 1996an (IAUC 6442), 1998dl (IAUC 6992), and
2009H (CBET 1656) also appeared in NGC 1084.

     M. Childress, R. Scalzo, F. Yuan, and B. Schmidt, Australian National
University (ANU), report the spectroscopic classification of PSN
J02455988-0734270 = SN 2012ec from an optical spectrum taken with the Wide
Field Spectrograph (Dopita et al. 2007, Ap. Space Sci. 310, 255) on the ANU
2.3-m telescope at Siding Spring Observatory, using the B3000/R3000 gratings
(range 360-1000 nm; 0.1-nm resolution).  The spectrum of 2012ec was compared
to supernova spectral templates using SNID (Blondin and Tonry 2007, Ap.J. 666,
1024), indicating it to be a supernova of type II-P at a very young age,
perhaps only a few days after explosion.  The spectrum exhibits high
velocities in the Balmer series, and an unusually strong He I 587.6-nm P-Cyg
profile.


NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes
      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 August 17                   (CBET 3201)              Daniel W. E. Green